Alumna Lisa Kuzma Named Van Lunen Fellow

Former chair of Cairn’s undergraduate counseling program, now director of a Christian school in North Philadelphia, selected for 2015–2016 fellowship.
Cairn alumna Lisa Kuzma ’01 has been selected as a 2015–2016 Van Lunen Fellow by the Van Lunen Center for Executive Management in Christian Schools at Calvin College (located in Grand Rapids, MI).
Lisa holds a BS in Psychology and an MS in Education from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as an MS in Counseling from Cairn University. From 2000–2012, she served as the program chair for undergraduate counseling at Cairn, in addition to teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses. Currently, she is the director at Olney Christian School in North Philadelphia.
The Van Lunen Center was established to serve faith-based schools, large and small, across the US and Canada with a big-tent philosophy, reaching out to schools from a wide range of faith traditions, including Baptist, Catholic, evangelical Protestant, Episcopal, independent Christian, Lutheran, Mennonite, and Reformed Christian day schools.
The Center was established at Calvin in January 2007 with a $2.5 million endowment gift to the college from the Richard D. Van Lunen Foundation. Subsequent gifts from the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, the Christopher Family Foundation, and others support the Center. Its purpose is to provide executive management education for senior leaders of schools based on the historic Christian faith.
The Van Lunen Center’s 2015–2016 fellows include educators from 24 schools across the US, Canada, and beyond. The Fellows program is designed for heads of schools who seek professional development in their work as administrators of faith-based schools. The Van Lunen Center covers the majority of participant expenses including cost of instruction, airfare, lodging, meals, coaching, and access to topic experts.
According to Jim Marsh, director of the Van Lunen Center, “The sessions are presented in a dynamic and rigorous format that includes case studies, interactive workshops, and expert training led by the faculty and consultants.”
“In areas such as marketing, student recruitment and retention, social media, strategic planning, fundraising campaigns, sustainability, governance and other topics relevant to executive management skills,” he said, “participants will deepen their own leadership, develop skills and create deep relationships with peers and leaders. They will become more prepared to craft and implement a sustainable Christian educational mission with parents, teacher and other supporting communities.”
The program begins with five residential days in July 2015, continues again in January 2016 for five days, and ends with three days in July 2016. Between sessions, faculty coaching and consultant support is available via phone, through online tools, and in person to assist fellows with a crucial school project.
For more information, visit www.calvin.edu/vanlunen.